1. Technical Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a multi-switching device and a multi-switching method thereof, more particularly to a multi-switching device and a multi-switching method thereof capable of automatically determining and selecting one of the control signals to be an output.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol is a standard widely used in the communication between electronic components. Each electronic component with I2C protocol has its own address which allows a master reading and setting internal data within the electronic component. Generally, a multiplexer (MUX) disposed in a system having many control circuits with the I2C protocol is configured to receive data signals and clock signals and then select one signal path between the master and one electronic component according to a control signal, so that the master can control or read data from the selected electronic device with the I2C protocol.
In a large-scale system, there may be many masters, so that its circuit structure with the I2C protocol may be a masters-to-slave type. For example, a south-bridge chip (SB Chip) and a baseboard management controller (BMC) are configured to control the same control circuit with the I2C protocol. However, most electronic devices with the I2C protocol do not support such a circuit structure having more than one master. Therefore, when two masters control the same control circuit with the I2C protocol simultaneously, errors may occur in the system.
To solve such a problem, a series resistor was disposed on the signal path of each master for signal selection, thereby prioritizing the signal paths according to real requirements. Once the priorities were defined, idle signal paths would be cut off via these series resistors. Even though such a solution could keep the circuit structure with the I2C protocol away from the errors, the design and debugging to the system might lose its flexibility.